Psalm Meditation 624
Trinity Sunday
June 3, 2012

Psalm 79
1 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2 They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the air for food, the flesh of your faithful to the wild animals of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.
4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us.
5 How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealous wrath burn like fire?
6 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call on your name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation.
8 Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name's sake.
10 Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?" Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes.
11 Let the groans of the prisoners come before you; according to your great power preserve those doomed to die.
12 Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors the taunts with which they taunted you, O Lord!
13 Then we your people, the flock of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.
(NRSV)

I am continually amazed that professional athletes do not perform perfectly every time they are on the playing field. Why can’t a professional golfer get a hole in one every time? Why can’t a pitcher in baseball throw a strike every time and why can’t a batter get a homerun every at bat? Why can’t a soccer team score a goal each time they are in control of the ball and why can’t a goalie stop every attempt on goal? (Yes, I do know that these are impossible scenarios.) I know that professional does not mean perfect; it does not keep me from considering the possibility of perfection, even in the difficult situations in the lives of those we idolize in some form.

When the Israelites were defeated in battle they assumed that they had done something that caused Yahweh to punish them through this loss. Every inter-tribal or international conflict was really a contest between the various deities to whom folks had given their allegiance. Since our God is the most powerful, it must be our fault somehow that our God walked away leaving us to be so soundly defeated. It is our imperfections, our sins against God, being punished rather than weakness on the part of God. In this conception, it is still ultimately God’s fault when we are defeated.

As with athletes, our lives are made up of preparation, execution and evaluation. Sometimes we prepare and execute as if it all depends on us and we evaluate as if it is all in God’s hands. I wonder if God chooses sides in our contests any more than a parent chooses one child against another in family spats and squabbles. Despite our penchant for winners and losers in so many areas of our lives, God is probably somewhere in the midst of each conflict. God seems to be pointing us toward building relationships, both despite and because of our differences, with all the folks in each type of conflict in which we find ourselves. The relationships more than the heaping of sevenfold taunts will be what brings praise and glory to God.

© May 28, 2012